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FAKE Sennheiser MKH 416 ALLERT!


enginufuk

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Beware!! Another attempt to flog a fake 416 currently on ebay, from China with love.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=161108773011&ssPageName=ADME:B:WNA:GB:3160

 

It looks exactly like the one described above, I know because of direct experience. Back in July I made the mistake getting one of them (pics below). Wish I had read this thread before. The seller refunded everything too, including Paypal charges, and was very apologetic. He never admitted it was a fake though. Cultural difference?

 

If it sounds too good to be true, it's not true.

post-8478-0-62048400-1379503427_thumb.jp

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post-8478-0-65311700-1379503449_thumb.jp

post-8478-0-10810300-1379503461_thumb.jp

post-8478-0-99142100-1379503470_thumb.jp

post-8478-0-78463000-1379503481_thumb.jp

post-8478-0-15416300-1379503492_thumb.jp

post-8478-0-01298800-1379503500_thumb.jp

post-8478-0-48724000-1379503506_thumb.jp

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  • 4 weeks later...

So annoying.. 

 

I unfortunately have just bought one of these too.. its exactly the same as in  angelpgrandi's pics... 

Even the rusty staples on the manual! 

 

just messaged the seller telling him I want to send it back and expect a full refund + shipping costs. 

 

Wish me luck.. 

 

** I suppose it was too good to be true. 

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It looks exactly like the one described above, I know because of direct experience. Back in July I made the mistake getting one of them (pics below). Wish I had read this thread before. The seller refunded everything too, including Paypal charges, and was very apologetic. He never admitted it was a fake though. Cultural difference?

Yes, cultural difference.

The last time I did a corporate gig in China the A/V gear was rented from a local rental company. It was a high profile job so money was no issue, we just figured that it would be silly to ship the equipment from Europe or even Shanghai. And not very environmental friendly.

The stuff showed up and it didn't take me long to hear that the Nexo PS15 speakers didn't sound quite as good as I remembered them, but I let it pass because I has a lot to setup. Then setting up the Shure receivers with directional antennas, synchronizing the transmitters (the older Shure system) I heard that the Shure headmics didn't sound good at all.

I probably spent two or three hours calibrating the speaker system, ringing out spontaneous feedback that jumped on me like a jungle cat. The more I filtered out each speaker the crappier the sound became,

I also heard faint clicking noises on the radio mics, so I took a look at the receivers and they where switching antennas a lot more often than I've ever seen them do before.

When everything was set up I decided to surf the Internet and compare the official logos with the ones on the gear I was using. I found some logos to be thicker than the originals and sometimes the "R" in the Shure logo wasn't angle at the bottom right. Of course I wanted to check the serials with the manufacturer only to find NO serial numbers at all.

At this point both I and the video guy was getting really annoyed, he'd spent four hours trying to sync two Barco projectors but due to the poorly made "Minolta" lenses he ended up with a picture that was sharp in the middle and almost all the was to the left, whereas the right-most of the picture was fuzzy.

So I asked the Chinese freelance sound engineer that what helping me out - a knowledgeable guy - "dude, tell me honestly, are Shure receivers and Nexo speakers counterfeit here in China?". Hehe, he looked at me like "does the Pope have a funny hat" and said: "Yes of course! Shure is very expensive in China". Then HE started showing me what was poorly counterfeit on the gear, that all the rubber buttons on the Shure receivers felt different when pressed. :wacko:

He also saved the real Energizer batteries for the corporate show and told me not to leave any batteries inside the transmitters because they would be drained even when the transmitters was OFF.

Basically all the gear I was using was counterfeit and due to the location and time constraint there was nothing I could do about it, more than accept the crappy sound quality and do the best I could. The clicking noise from the receivers was of course due to the fact that there was only one radio receiver inside that was switching antenna, instead of two receivers and switching the signal.

I'm so glad I spent the extra hours filtering out each speaker, because where did the micked up CEO decide to sit? At a table in the audience under one of my "Nexo" speakers.

I've done corporate gigs in China before without any trouble - renting the gear from reputable rental companies I guess. After this gig I will always make sure that the sound equipment is rented from reputable rental companies in Beijing, Shanghai or Hong Kong.

Nowadays my personal belief is that less reputable Chinese rental companies and individuals use the counterfeit gear themselves and maybe even convinces themselves that it is "Shure" that they are using.

I've known about fake Shure SM58s for a long time, but now I wouldn't buy any professional gear from eBay if the seller isn't a reputable company in US or Europe, and I'm very suspicious if the price is too good to be true. Almost anything can be counterfeit in China.

Lesson learned.

Cheers

Fred

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  • 1 year later...

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